Following on from the Park & Ride post at the weekend
The proposed livery for the Taunton Park & Ride Enviro 400s:
Three buses 15325 15326 15327 earmarked for the new livery. They will certainly stand out in Taunton!
The cancellation for the Dartmouth Park & Ride is, as expected the end of the current contract. It remains to be seen who wins the new tender for this years contract.
So they have pinched three of Torquay's Scanias - no wonder there seem to be more single-deckers appearing on the 12 and 22 of late!
ReplyDelete15804/5/6 have replaced thoses 3
DeleteStagecoach as a whole seem to be neglecting their original operation in Devon, I get money is tight and they need to find new sources of revenue but that should not come at the cost of Exeter or Torquay having to suffer.
DeleteYes, but these three seem to have spent most of their time on the 2 in recent weeks and are still running in service in beachball livery today per Bus Times. If they're in Taunton next week, they won't be repainted in a bespoke new P&R livery. Perhaps they'll receive a wrap? That may suggest they will be temporary as these six year old deckers are the newest SD can provide. Maybe they are having to source something younger if the contract stipulates the vehicles' age?
DeleteI cant see that they are neglecting their Devon operations ?
ReplyDeleteSD does seem to have lost out big time with the promised new buses due last year being diverted elsewhere. One has to assume that there is a Plan B to mitigate the loss of those buses, perhaps involving nearly new cascades from the imminent electrification projects in Oxford or Stockport?
DeleteYou seem to forget only a year ago they dropped a lot of North Devon & Exeter city services, scaled back timetables and got into trouble with the traffic commissioner.
DeleteThey did have a poor patch when staff shortages led to a fair few cuts - but the last year has seen them increase services again as their staff levels have recovered. Devon CC were not happy for a while but seem a lot happier these days. At the moment out of the big three, SC seem to be the more positive and looking for more work. These things though do seem to go in cycles
DeleteStagecoach South West wasn't alone in suffering from staff shortages in 2022/3 - operators up and down the country were cancelling services left, right and centre and even last Autumn, staff sickness has seen some operators cancelling services again. SSW at least seems to have reduced timetables to a level they can actually operate reliably, and is enhancing services gradually where demand is recovering.
DeleteIt would make sense to run the buses from Tiverton to Taunton in service to the park and ride and back
ReplyDeleteThey are soon but not immediately
DeleteAs far as I am aware the Scania’s are only temporary as they are the newest double deckers in the fleet and they also have next stop announcement equipment already installed. The Scania’s would be wasted on the Taunton P&R and I believe that there will be cascades from elsewhere (such as Manchester or Oxford) where they have 68 plate or Newer e400mmc’s with NSA equipment. Hence why the Scania’s are not getting repainted either.
ReplyDeleteThe stagecoach bluebird latest fleetcard suggests 36049 is heading this way
ReplyDelete